


The Quill's Harsh Kiss

by kalypsobean



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Letters, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-15
Updated: 2009-08-15
Packaged: 2018-01-10 22:25:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1165285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalypsobean/pseuds/kalypsobean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will distance cause Erestor and Orophin to be forever parted?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Quill's Harsh Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Lady Mirfain as part of Ardor in August 2009

Dearest Orophin,

 

It is with great sadness I leave you; dawn strikes your skin as I write this, and you have such beauty within you that the sunlight only makes it more evident than it was last night, when you let me love you. I dare not wake you in case you keep me prisoner and I never leave. As it is, the memory of your warm touch will keep me warm on the cold nights as I return to Imladris, and will give me comfort for much longer. Ai! I can no longer imagine nights and days alone; I will reach for you and find that you are not there; I will hunger for you and long to plunge into your pliant body and hear you cry my name as I taste your sweat and make you tremble with pleasure. Alas, it is not to be. Elrond's hawk has arrived with a message that bides no well for either of our cities, and we must part now, when we are closest and still have so far to go. I long to teach you of so many things and to bring you much joy, but it is our sad duties that tear us apart, that and the distance which they require.

 

Write to me often, my love, as I shall write to you. We shall see each other at the soonest chance, for our world is soon to be torn asunder and I sense that our kingdoms will unite before the end.

 

Erestor

 

~*~

 

Dearest Orophin,

 

The world is much darker than it was when I ventured into Lothlórien's embrace. I am cold without you; I miss your soft lips and your silvery voice. I wish that we had more time.

 

Imladris is ever in autumn, but your words would make the air feel as if spring had come.

 

Erestor.

 

~*~

 

Erestor, my love,

 

Every day I read the letter you left me. Every day my body aches to be touched by you again; I close my eyes and try to remember how your hands felt and how your skin tasted, but the memory is sometimes elusive, moreso of late. Why do you not write? Haldir brings the letters in from the border and he takes pleasure in telling me that I am silly; there is nothing for me and I was just another dalliance for you, another young and willing to strive for power at your feet.

I cannot imagine this of you when I remember how you kissed my hair before I fell asleep in your arms, or when I read your words and hear your voice as if you are whispering them to me. I still believe in you for you are the best Elf I have ever met, the most noble and the most gracious. I do not regret waiting for you to be my first; I have no reason to be anything but grateful that you chose me to be yours.

 

I am young and many try to keep things from me, but I hear rumours and I hope that you have not fallen prey to the creeping darkness from the south. I do not wish to give it power, but fear touches my heart; does it take so little for us to fall apart?

 

I wish I could speak to you and hear that you are well, even if you no longer think of me.

 

Your Orophin.

 

~*~

 

Dearest Orophin,

 

Again the messengers bring no letter from you! I am driven to despair. I know that my letters are short, for no words can describe this pain in my soul that worsens with my absence from you, yet I did not think you would take offence; in these times we are lucky that our letters reach each other at all, let alone that we have time to write them. I dare not say too much, but protect yourself, my love. I have no wish for you to be tainted while I cannot be there to protect you myself.

 

Erestor

 

~*~

 

Erestor,

 

Moons have risen and fallen since you have been here. I grow thin and pale with fear for you; though word has reached us that you returned safely to your home, I am sure that you must be unwell for I have not heard from you. I miss you. Every day I wish that I could come to be with you, but the healers say I must stay here; the journey may weaken me too much. I am no longer allowed out to patrol or train; I don't mind, because the others were being nasty to me and saying things about you. I have no illusions that I was your first, for you have lived longer and seen more than I have, after all, but they say that I am a fool to wait for you. They bet arrows on when I will hear from you; they started at quivers and now they are making more so that they can make their guesses span longer.

I feel in my heart that they are wrong, but perhaps sometimes the darkness I feel is doubt?

Erestor, please, my love, do not leave me to fade while you are gone from me.

 

I remember your hair shining under the moonlight and how your skin shimmered when you moved. I remember how you were so gentle with me and I know the exact moment that my admiration became love for you; I want to whisper it in your ear on our binding night, if Eru allows.

 

Every day that Haldir smirks and shakes his head is another day that my heart cracks and splinters and my soul cries out for yours.

 

Your Orophin.

 

~*~

 

Orophin,

 

It is faster for me to send this by hawk than it is to send a messenger. I hope the bird does not scare you; you should put some of those sweets that you like in your hand and offer it to her before she goes to the aviary.

 

I will be in Lothlórien soon; my love for you has not lessened and the days that lie between us are torturous now that I know they will soon end. Prepare for me - I would be honoured to bed with you openly.

 

Send no reply, our journey must remain secret and we travel in darkness.

 

Erestor.

 

~*~

 

Dearest Orophin,

 

I sit here and watch you sleep, in the same way I watched you while I wrote that first letter to you, seasons ago. I wish that the time between these letters had not been so hard for you; no love, especially first love, should be such a trial. You are so fragile now; I am sorry to have been the cause, however unwitting. I do not comprehend how your brother could be so cruel as to keep my letters from you, though I understand his motives - he only wished to keep you from being hurt, and I hope that you will not be ever sundered from him.

Ai, Eru, but you look so thin! The last time I saw the dawn look upon you, you were young and healthy and I wanted nothing more than to make love with you until we were both exhausted, sated. This dawn sees you wearing shadow as a second skin; I wish I had not tarried in coming to you when I did not receive word from you, I wish that we had never had to be apart.

I write to you again now as a greeting; you do not yet know that I am here, for I arrived in the night and my first words to Haldir were to ask of you. The pain you must have felt all this time! Orophin, I do not understand how even Irmo could keep your plight from me, how Vairë could weave it and her tears not fall, how Námo could so easily draw you close to his realm. I have read the letters Haldir kept from me; I have seen your comrades whisper and heard them fall silent as I climbed to you.

 

I am here because a grave terror has risen in the south, but truly, my soul rejoices to be here and my heart longs to be joined to yours. Soon I will wake you with a kiss and a touch; I hope you will reach for me and that you will let me do much of what I have dreamed to - I remember the scar on your thigh and texture of your skin under my tongue but I long to see and feel all of you, to open you with my tongue and hear you scream for me while your body trembles. I want to hold you when your hair, now loose and soft, is knotted and streaked with sweat, when your skin is cooling in the afternoon air, when your eyes are closed in sated exhaustion and not this illness that threatens you.

 

I swear that I will save you, my love. I do not wish to let you go.

 

Here is a third letter to comfort you when the shadows start to overwhelm. There is always light, and I long to show it to you.

 

I love you,

 

Erestor.

  



End file.
